


The prophetic dog

by melonbutterfly



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-02
Updated: 2011-01-02
Packaged: 2017-10-14 08:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noah knows way better than Zach; Zach just has to learn to accept it and move on. Noah sure knew immediately that Chris will be way more than a dogwalker to both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The prophetic dog

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a comment!fic (so I fail at comment!fic, I know, thank you) for ontd_pinto a while ago and thought I'd post it here.

It's not that Noah is a difficult dog, per se. He's just... picky isn't the right word either; Zach prefers to consider his baby a very good judge of character. And if Noah doesn't like someone, really the best thing that could happen to the unlucky person is that they'd be ignored; the worst includes growling. The staring and passive-aggressive shoe-eating is even kind of cute, sort of – at least from Zach's point of view. Zoe hadn't quite agreed, but those purple leather pumps had been horrible anyway. Really, Noah had done her a favour, and if he hadn't and she had worn them _one more time_ in Zach's presence, he might have been the one who ended up chewing on them just so he'd never have to look at them ever again.

The good thing about Noah being so very adept at recognising bad people is that Zach can easily detect if someone is trustworthy. If Noah doesn't like them, he won't immediately discard them (Zoe is really nice, after all – but Zach isn't sure if Noah's real problem hadn't been her shoes after all, because ever since he got rid of them, he had been rather nonchalant about her presence), but he will think twice about entrusting his money or career or privacy to them.

The bad thing is, it's really, really very hard to find a dogwalker for him. That hadn't been a problem when Zach had still had enough time, and when Joe had still been living rather close; if necessary, he would take Noah for a walk. (Another clear indicator towards the Noah-is-an-unrecognised-genius theory: he loves Joe, just like Zach.) But Joe finally got famous enough to be able to afford (and need; in LA it's all about the appearance, after all, and people won't believe a photographer is brilliant if he doesn't operate from a shiny studio) a bigger, brighter, better place, and while he still lives in LA, he's too far away now to come over to walk his dog. He still will take him over a couple of days, but a walk just isn't possible anymore.

Which means Zach has to try to find a dogwalker. Again. He had tried a couple of years ago; he liked to take care of everything and would have liked knowing that if necessary, someone would take care of his dog. It had been a disaster, and Zach really isn't looking forward to starting all over again.

He's bright enough to try another agency; the other pobably has put him on their hatelist forever. He isn't sure, but he heard that that Anton kid quit completely after Noah happened to him. Which is probably for the best anyway, Zach tells himself; he was too delicate and fragile to really walk a dog bigger than a hand.

Of course, this new dogwalker agency doesn't like him any better after the sixth candidate left in self-doubt; Noah has a knack for making people think it's their fault. It's a good thing Zach lives in a, while rather urban, still busy enough area that many dogwalkers are availble. Relatively speaking, of course; there must be a limit to them, but Zach is scared to ask and puts all his hopes in other agencies, if this one fails. He hopes it doesn't; he doesn't have the _time_ to deal with this, that's the whole point, and he's getting a little desperate. But there's no way he'd force his baby to take his walks with someone he can't stand; it'd break Zach's heart. Noah loves his walks; he's so happy and enthusiastic about them, and Zach can't imagine willingly doing anything that might change that. (Besides, the one time Zach tentatively tried by letting the dogwalker hold the leash, but going with them, Noah had refused to pee and had instead done it on his bed later. Zach got the message.)

So, he really doesn't know what to do if Noah refuses the next dogwalker too; it's the seventh of this agency, and Zach has a feeling the receptionist is going to tell him they don't have anyone living in the area anymore the next time he calls. Explaining that to Noah doesn't really help, but he nevertheless tries again. Repetition helps children understand better; it might work with dogs too, right? Dogs are brighter than children too, so it really should.

Except it doesn't. Noah takes one look at the guy (John Cho, and damnit, Zach really had thought he was nice) and turns away, presenting him with his butt and refusing to turn around, no matter what either of them do. "Okay, so this is probably not going to work," John says, pouting, and Zach sighs and apologises. "I really don't know, he just doesn't like some people," he tries to explain and doesn't add that he thinks that's because Noah is a good judge of character.

"Well, I've got this friend," John says, striking a superman-pose (probably unconsciously, but still, hilarious). "He's more of a cat-person, but all animals seem to like him, and, hm. Sometimes he takes over for me when I'm sick or something – not that I'm sick often – so he has experience walking dogs."

"Okay," Zach says slowly; not in a 'I agree' kind of way, but more like '...your point being...?'.

"I could call him," John offers. "I mean, I don't think Dina will send anyone else here; I heard something about there having been a couple of others already...?"

"Six, not including you."

"Oh. Hm. Well, his name is Christopher Pine, and he is certified; he just isn't with any agency. You could give it a try?"

 _Why not_ , Zach thinks. It's not like it will hurt anyone except the guy's pride. So he gets Christopher's number from John and calls him in the evening; he sounds nice enough over the telephone, and he has some credentials too. He also prefers to be called Chris, but Zach doesn't believe they'll ever meet again after that first time, so he doesn't try too hard to remember. He knows at least ten Chris', and there must be thousands more in LA.

The next day, when Zach and Noah come back from their afternoon walk, a guy is waiting in front of his gate. _Hot_ , is Zach's first thought, _what the fuck_ his second, because Noah yips happily and starts to pull at the leash, tail wagging. The guy laughs and crouches, and Zach has to quicken his step because Noah is seriously enthusiastic in the way he usually only is when he meets someone he really loves, like Joe. "Hey, honey," the guy coos and, after letting Noah take his smell, starts rubbing his back.

"Did you just call my dog honey?", Zach asks incredulously; that's nothing that ever happened to him before. If at all, Joe calls him 'kid' sometimes, and occasionally Zach refers to him as 'his baby' in conversation, but usually, people call him by his name, if they call him at all.

"Sorry," the guy grins and looks up at him, blinking in the sunlight; his eyes are really very blue. "His name is Noah, right? I'm a little early, sorry." Giving Noah one last affectionate ruffle (and Zach is still staring, but he has never seen Noah act like that with a perfect stranger, not even Joe when they first met), he stands up and offers Zach his hand. After the introductions are out of the way, Chris beams down at Noah who is enthusiastically wagging his tail, panting and staring happily at up him, and says "So, I heard that your dog is a little difficult, but John can't have been talking about this cutiepie."

"Well." Zach looks at Noah too and shakes his head. "This has never happened before, ever." He isn't sure he isn't talking about the nicknames. Cutiepie?

"Huh," is all Chris replies, and then Zach realises they're still standing in front of his gate, and he goes to unlock it, motioning Chris and Noah inside. Noah only obeys after Chris has, and wow. That's really his dog, right? Usually, he barely lets Joe walk in front.

They go inside and drink some cool water; Zach is floundering a little, because he has never gotten this far into a dogwalker job interview and can barely remember the questions he's supposed to ask. It doesn't help that Noah sits happily in front of the table, staring at both of them and wagging his tail occasionally.

Chris is charming (too charming; Zach has to try to keep on-topic and not drift off into flirting) and nice, has experience with dogs (and cats, but at least Harold is still as standoffish as ever and doesn't show; it restores Zach's belief that he is still in the right universe) and seems generally like a competent, responsible dogwalker. (And person, but Zach is still trying not to think about sex appeal; technically Chris is his employee, and there's some sort of moral code against that, right? Besides, he isn't stupid. This is a once in a lifetime chance, he isn't going to ruin that for a shag, however much he might be tempted to.)

Of course he employs him. And it was the right choice too; Noah seems more happy than ever, and Chris is punctual and reliable and doesn't mind Zach's irregular schedule. They hit off in other areas too; somehow, Chris' short picking up and dropping off of Noah turns into Chris' coming over and distracting Zach from his work. Not that he does it on purpose, but Zach is sure they're doing it wrong when they get so involved in their discussions that they end up walking Noah together, all the while continuing their friendly debates. They talk about everything; from books to philosophies over comic books to which way to die seems to be the most peaceful. Zach really tries to keep the fact that he nowadays jerks off exclusively to thoughts of Chris secret, but fact is, the crush-at-first-sight he apparently got developed into a I-might-really-kind-of-love-you. And while he likes to think he's a good actor, in private he's pretty much an open book, once people get to know him.

So naturally, Chris catches on, or at least that's what Zach thinks when he comes home to find Noah and Chris playing in the garden, and the first thing Chris says to him is "We need to talk." It has to be the one most dreaded sentence in the world, in any language.

He tries to not let his dread show and sits down on the stairs next to Chris; for a moment, they both watch Noah play around with one of his chew toys, but then Chris shifts and Zach shifts until they're facing each other, except they're still looking away.

"So," Chris croaks and has to clear is throat. "I'm not the only one, right?"

Zach blinks. "What do you mean?"

"This." Chris motions between them, then furrows his brows and says, "I mean I pretty much wanted to roll over and spread my legs for you the first time I saw you, but now it's... now I want to keep you afterwards." He does that; get blunt when he's nervous, then lose steam in the middle and turn inarticulate and tentative.

Except, wow. It's been more than ten years since Zach fell in love with someone without expecting it (because normally, when you start dating and the chemistry works, you pretty much plan on it, right?), and never had it actually been returned, and. Just.

He has to clear his throat too before he can say, "No, you're not. The only one," he clarifies when Chris looks up sharply, frown building. "I mean, I pretty much... yes."

Chris smiles and blushes and licks his lips and lowers his gaze, all at the same time, and he wears shy so well, and Zach never wants anyone else to see him like this.

For a moment, none of them moves; they just stare at each other. Noah saves them before it turns really awkward or they jump each other right on the lawn; he bodychecks Zach in the way he does when he decides it's time for dinner.

They go inside and jump each other in the kitchen instead, while Noah happily munches his dinner in the corner.


End file.
